Velo Club riders on podium in county series

FOUR Guernsey Velo Club riders enjoyed a successful visit to round two of the Southern Cross-Country mountain bike series held at Deepcut, West Sussex. The course covered five-and-a-half miles of mixed terrain, each lap taking approximately 25 minutes.

Although very fast, the course had many technical wooded sections and some leg-burning climbs.

Dry weather left the course dusty - perfect for mountain bike racing.

Junior riders Michael Serafin and John Mapley were first to tackle it over three laps.

A tarmac start loop strung the riders out, with Serafin in second and Mapley third as they exited the start arena. Midway through the first lap the pair were still in touch with the leader and working well to keep him in their sights.

After that, Mapley was in second spot and Serafin third.

Mapley appeared to be pulling away on the second lap, but on reappearance at the end of the lap Serafin had worked his way back up to Mapley and the pair were once again together going into the final lap, albeit down to third and fourth respectively.

A huge last-lap effort saw the pair catch and drop their nearest rival and move into second and third once again.

Serafin was the first to appear in the finish arena, only a couple of bike lengths ahead of Mapley, and their positions remained the same over the twisty finish loop with Serafin taking second spot in 1-12.43, just a second ahead of his colleague.

Nick Mann raced in the super masters' category over four laps and gained a great start, being fifth as they left the arena.

A lead group was formed early on lap one. Mann was just unable to hold onto the back and found himself just off the group.

After the initial lap he held sixth, just ahead of a group of riders chasing hard. He was caught midway through the second, but was not to be overtaken as he put in a decisive effort up one of the climbs to leave the chasers in his dust.

On the final circuit, Mann used a back marker to his benefit as he barged past the rider in fifth spot, but unfortunately for Mann the tactic was about to be repeated on him as he was erratically passed on the final S-bend into the finish and had to settle for sixth in 1-37.21.

Rob Smart was the final rider to race, over five laps in the elite category. Smart was fifth off the start line and on the second lap moved up into fourth spot, albeit holding a slender advantage over fifth.

A retirement on lap three saw Smart up another position into third, but, still under pressure from behind, Smart had to keep his rhythm going.

He dug in over the final two laps to take the last spot on the podium and with that gaining points towards possible Commonwealth Games qualification. His finish time was 1-58.59.

Round three takes the riders to Ashton Court, Bristol, on 12 June.